NAS Pax River: Our jets caused caused that 'earthquake'

Feb. 7, 2014 - 03:42PM
|

OCEAN CITY, MD. — The Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland says two Navy fighter jets conducting routine flight tests off the coast caused the sonic booms felt in Ocean City that some people thought were an earthquake.

Connie Hempel, public affairs officer for the air station, said Friday that the jets, an F-35C and an F/A-18, conducted the tests from 9:20 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. Thursday. She says the flights in the Atlantic Test Ranges off the coast of Maryland and Virginia conducted tests requiring supersonic speeds, causing the booms.

Hempel says military aircraft from the air station routinely conduct supersonic flights off the coast of the Delmarva Peninsula.

Ocean City officials received dozens of calls from residents starting about noon who said they felt tremors, shaking and heard a loud boom.